Archive for the 'Bo Koster' Tag Under 'Soundcheck' Category

Last time they played Southern California, My Morning Jacket nearly filled the Greek Theatre. Tonight, nearly a year later, the Louisville band is booked into the ornately intimate Pantages Theatre -- and the day before, they performed for 250 KCRW supporters at the Village Studios in West Los Angeles. But less than two weeks ago they also headlined the main stage at Bonnaroo, performing before almost 70,000 fans.

Bo Koster, the band's keyboardist and an L.A. native, says this disparity was planned. The decision was dictated by Circuital, MMJ's sixth studio album and first since 2008's Evil Urges.

The album was written, rehearsed, and recorded in an old Presbyterian church that had fallen on hard times. The building was enormous, but the congregation had shrunk to less than 50 souls, and it was “slowly eroding away.” So the band set up shop on the large altar, simply sitting in a circle and working out the songs. The building proved incredibly inspiring; its sanctified space permeated the entire album.

My Morning Jacket, fronted by shaggy-haired singer-songwriter-guitarist Jim James, wanted to re-create that atmosphere on the road, and art-deco theaters fit the bill perfectly. You could hear the excitement in Koster's voice when informed that the Pantages was built in 1930 as a vaudeville palace.

For Jason Bentley, KCRW's music director and host of the station's influential Morning Becomes Eclectic program, the chance to bring station members a special show was one he couldn't pass up. He called My Morning Jacket one of the “special cases” where simply having a band play a short set during his morning show wasn't enough.